Maximum pleasure but maybe not maximum profit?

[MRBAA]

At the club, in the 4-8 game with the usual loose aggressives plus a few loose passives, including some new faces who we should all hope will become regulars.

Anyway, I'm racked up and playing my last hand at 1 a.m. when I get 88 in the co. There's one very loose passive limper to me, and I raise. Button folds, loose aggro who has been quiet recently comes to life and three bets, loose passive big blind caps it up, limper calls, and I call.

All is not going according to plan, but I'm getting 7-1 here.

Flop comes down:
A-3-2 rainbow. SB checks, BB bets, limper calls, I call (getting 18-1 I need only 2.5BB on the later streets to give me implied odds for set value only). SB folds (?).

Turn is an 8, giving me the set. BB bets, limper calls, I call.

This is where I may have left money on the table. I was pretty sure my set was good (if he has AA, so be it), but worried that a raise would fold the weak limper (she gave raises in general a lot of respect) and maybe even fold the other guy if he had an underpair, like KK-TT.
I wanted to raise the river, when I felt they'd both be more likely to call.

However the pot is big enough that I probably don't care if they fold or call, and they were both kind of passive, so I risked getting checked to.

In any event, the river was, how shall I say this, another 8, to give me quads. BB checked, which annoyed me, limper checked, I bet and both called.

BB had AK, limper didn't show, but probably a weaker ace.

It was a great way to end the night, obviously, but could I have made more?

[pstripling]

I think you played the hand fine. The most important thing IMO is that you knew the reason you were making the decisions you made. You could have made a case for raising the turn but if your read was correct it would have been very hard for the limper to overcall, and if the BB had something other than AK it would be difficult for him to call also. I don't think raising the turn would have been a bad choice either... but I think the result would have been the same. BB calls, limper folds, BB check-calls the river.

[Trix]

Raise the turn, the pot is big, so they probably aren´t going to fold.

SB must not CR very often to make the flop call suck, but you probably had a better idea about his CR frequency here than I have.

[J.R.]

Raise the turn (did the turned 8 put a flush draw on board, if so that makes the turn raise even better). You are more likely to get called in two spots on the turn than on the river, as your opponents will (obviously) recognize they have one more card to draw to. Don't underestimate your opponent's desire and ability to draw in big pots (they shouldn't and won't suspect they are drawing dead in this case). Did you fail to adequately consider the pot size? Calls of turn raises get made in big pots with thin hands like one pair who will often think they (and even more often do) have outs, and as this is a big pot on a relatively unconnected board, I would suspect your opponents will think/hope they have outs here.

If KK-TT is going to bet this river and pay off the raise (soemthing I don't think most LL opponents can be expected to do- on either count) I don't see why you wouldn't expect such an opponent to pay of a turn raise. And I really don't see too many hands that the PFR would bet the river but not also pay off a turn raise. So 1) you are more likely to get the limper, who is likely drawing/has a thin hand, to call a turn raise than overcall a river raise and 2) there is a chance that the pfr checks the river.

[MAxx]

whose to say for sure, maybe your play did extract the maximum. however, i view it differently from your title. I would not have had maximum pleasure unless I got a raise in on the turn. As far as poker pleasure goes, I am not feeling it unless I am raising. Back to your play... raising turn, you may scare away overcaller especially with your read... but I think that is worth the risk with your set. I mean how can you be so convinced that he wont call 2 cold and/ or that you won't get BB to get frisky with you and 3 bet you on turn. IMO, in this situation I don't like going for overcalls. I would rather take a chance at getting a bigger pot.

[IndieMatty]

Knowing the types at the club, or any club, Im raising the turn, they are incapable of dropping tt-kk until they see the river.

[sfer]

Easy, easy turn raise. There are only a handful of loose, limping, women players in that game, but if they've made it this far they will have an Ace like 100% of the time on the turn and they aren't going anywhere. 2 BBs on the table.

The other problem with waiting until the river to raise is what if he has KK/QQ. He's not betting for you. And even if the BB has AK, that game regularly misses out on clear and obvious river value bets for fear of rivered 2-pair and other such nonsense.

[MRBAA]

Wow, a lot of good points in response to a post I didn't think had much content. Yeah, I think I get too much pleasure out of being tricky -- they probably both would have called a turn raise. The limper probably would then have folded ther river rather than overcall, so I may only have lost one bb overall, but who knows.

Trix, great point on the SB c/r the flop. Then it can get three bet by BB and I will fold. That would suck. But when the pot is capped four way preflop, it's a risk I think I was justified in taking.

Also these loose raiser were pretty wild, so there was a small chance I might be winning on that flop (sounds crazy, I know).

In an earlier hand, we saw the flop for a raise six way. The same passive limper bet a flop of T25 with a two flush, I raised with 88, was three bet by a loose aggro, the others all folded, limper called, I called. Then it was checked down and mhig, (three bettor had Q2s and had flopped a pair of deuces but not the flush draw).

[arkady]

yah u missed the turn raise, but given your read - the result *might* have been the same. You made a move based on ur read and there is nothing wrong with that.